1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fixing structure of an electric apparatus to a vehicle. Particularly, the present invention relates to a fixing structure of an electric apparatus in an engine compartment provided in a front portion of the vehicle. Note that a technique described in the present invention can be applied to an electrically-driven vehicle that does not include an engine. Even in a case of the electrically-driven vehicle that does not include an engine, that space in the front portion of the vehicle in which a drive motor (a drive source) is provided is referred to as an “engine compartment” according to a practice of the field of automobile. Further, in the present specification, in order to simplify the description, an “engine compartment in a front portion of the vehicle” may be just referred to as a “compartment.”
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, a vehicle is equipped with various electrical apparatuses. Cases of such electric apparatuses are not so rigid as compared with cases of an engine and a transmission, so the cases may receive a large damage due to an impact at the time of a collision from a front side. A technique to relax a damage received by an electric apparatus in a compartment at the time of a collision is exemplified in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2013-086680 (JP 2013-086680 A), Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2013-237413 (JP 2013-237413 A), and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-038920 (JP 2009-038920 A). In those documents, a target electric apparatus to be protected is an inverter configured to supply electric power to a drive motor. Such an inverter includes components (high-voltage components) to which a high voltage of 100 V or more is applied. Accordingly, it is required to prevent such a problem that a case of the inverter is broken at the time of a collision and the components are exposed. In the technique described in JP 2013-086680 A, an inverter is fixed to a tray (a mounting table). The tray is fixed to a side member that is one of frames of a vehicle. The inverter is fixed to the tray by use of a bracket. In order to protect the inverter from an impact at the time of a collision, the bracket includes a removal mechanism configured to remove the inverter from the tray at the time of receiving an impact from a front side of the vehicle. The removal mechanism has a structure to fix the inverter to the tray by passing a bolt through a U-shaped slit provided in the bracket. Upon receipt of the impact, the bracket moves relative to the bolt along the U-shaped slit, so as to be removed from the bolt. Further, the tray extends to a rear side of the inverter, and is curved toward a rear upper side. A brake unit is placed at the rear upper side of the inverter, and a rear end of the tray extends to a front side of the brake unit. When the inverter moves rearward due to an impact of a collision, that rear part of the tray which is curved enters between the brake unit and the inverter, so that the inverter is protected from a collision with the brake unit.
JP 2013-237413 A describes a technique to protect a connector of a power cable provided on a rear face of an inverter. The technique is as follows. In order to protect the connector and the power cable, a protective cover is attached to a top face of the inverter. The protective cover extends to a rear side of the inverter, and is curved downward behind the inverter. An edge of a body panel of the vehicle is placed behind the inverter. When the inverter moves rearward due to an impact of a collision, the protective cover collides with the edge of the body panel, and the protective cover that is curved originally is further curved downward so as to cover the power cable and the connector to protect them.
JP 2009-038920 A describes a technique in which a cover is attached to a connector accommodation portion of an inverter so as to protect a connector from an impact of a collision.